The ii V I Relationship ﹈ : It might be said that all of music is a series of notes and perceived harmonies designed to build tension and (hopefully!) bring us back to a sense of resolution or rest. During our previous lesson on Secondary Dominant Chords we examined the individual notes of a scale, to see if they seemed stable– needing no resolution, mildly unstable, or almost demanding to be resolved to a harmony which seems at rest. We classified the V chord, the V7 and vii° as Dominant Quality chords which hold the greatest drive or tension to resolve.

Let’s examine two other Chord Qualities: In Major keys the Tonic chord (the major 1 chord or the 1maj7 chord) – is your most obvious sound of rest or resolution. Two other chords share multiple notes in common with this chord– the 3m and the 6m chord (as well as their extended forms, the 3m7 and the 6m7. So we would classify 1, 1maj7, 3m, 3m7, 6m and 6m7 as the Tonic Quality chords, that is– chords which sound relatively at rest in a key.

There is a quality of chord which holds some tension but is in-between sounding at rest and demanding to resolve. Quality chords can either return to a quality of rest (Tonic Quality) or move to a place of even greater tension (Dominant Quality). The Subdominant chord– the major 4 chord falls into this category, as well as the 4maj7 (and the minor key variations, 4m and 4m7). In addition, chords which share multiple common tones with the Subdominant chords, the 2m, 2m7 and minor key variations 2m7( 5) and 2°. f

To Summarize Chord Qualities: Tonic Quality: 1, 1maj7, 3m, 3m7, 6m, 6m7 (and in minor keys 1m, 1m7) – feel at rest Subdominant Quality: 4, 4maj7, 4m, 4m7, 2m, 2m7, 2°, 2m7, 2m7( 5) – want to move to a place of rest or to a place of greater tension f Dominant Quality: 5, 57, 7° – want to move to a resolve to a place of rest

This effectively means that if you wish to build the tension to resolve, the most effective sequence to use is: Subdominant Dominant (Tonic) : :

STRONG CHORD MOVEMENT We tend to perceive chord movement most strongly when the Root Notes of the chords have a large contrast within the scale... Consider the notes C to B; you might think of the 2 notes as being a Major 7th apart, but the 2 notes are ALSO only a minor 2nd apart in the scale – this interval would not be perceived as a great contrast. The farthest root movement you can have within a scale is only an interval of a 4th or a 5th. Therefore, the strongest Root Note movement of chords will be perceived when chord roots are either a 4th or a 5th apart. More specifically, because of how chord progressions ultimately lead our ear toward a sound which is at rest, the movement of a 4th up or a 5th down between root notes of 2 chords is considered to be the strongest motion between chords. While we could build tension using the IV V I (Subdominant Dominant Tonic) ﹈ combination, it doesn’t contain quite the same strength of chord: root movement as :the ii V I :progression. ﹈ : This effectively means that if you wish to use the most powerful expectation leading to a chord of resolution the ii V I progression (Subdominant Dominant (Tonic)) gives the strongest movement between ﹈ chord: roots and gives our ears the most: powerful :prediction of where chords will resolve to. A FULL TONALITY You will study the forms of in later courses, but it is relevant to introduce the concept at this time. Like speech, music is made up of phrases. In the same way that a period marks the pause at the end of a sentence– with the completion of a whole thought, harmonic Cadences (usually a 2 or 3 ) are used to convey the completion of one musical idea and provide a pause before the next musical idea begins. The 2m 5 1 progression is especially effective at completing a musical phrase. (In fact, song phrases which are traditionally: : harmonized with a simple 5 1 progression may be strengthened by inserting some form of 2 chord on a weak beat before the 5 chord sounds.):

No matter what form of a 2 5 1 progression is used, the 2 chord will at least contain scale steps 2, 4, 6; ﹈ the 5 chord contains 5, 7, 2, and: the 1 chord contains 1, 3, 5… That means this progression contains scale steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – the entire tonality of a scale. This will be true no matter what form of the 2 chord is used: 2m, 2m7, 2m7( 5), 2°; or what form of 5 chord is used: 5, 57; or what form of the 1 chord is used: 1, 1maj7, 1m, 1m7. The characteristicf of containing all scale steps lends this particular progression an aural sense of completeness. Even the 2 or 27 chord (the Secondary Dominant chords which directly lead to the 5 chord) may be used in this progression.

THE SECONDARY DOMINANT 2 5 1 ﹈ In our last lesson, you learned that a Dominant: Quality chord may be used to strongly lead to, or target ANY Major or within a key– (not just the Tonic chord) and that using a Secondary Dominant can add a sense of tension which provides drive to a harmonic progression. Also, Secondary Dominant chords are temporarily ‘borrowed’ from the key of the target chord. Now, in addition to borrowing the Dominant 5 chord, let’s borrow the 2 5 couplet of chords to strengthen the borrowed chord progression even more! This pair of ﹈ chords often occurs on weaker beats of a phrase or measure and resolves on a strong beat of a measure.

SECONDARY DOMINANT EXAMPLES IN C MAJOR Leading to 2m C Em 7 A 7 D m C Em7(b5 ) A 7 D m ﹈ : ﹈ : & 4 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ Leading to 3m C F#m 7 B 7 Em C F#m7(b 5) B 7 Em ﹈ : ﹈ : & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ Leading to 4 (Major) C G m 7 C 7 F C G m7(b 5) C 7 F ﹈ : ﹈ : & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ Leading to 5 (Major) C A m 7 D 7 G C A m7(b 5) D 7 G ﹈ : ﹈ : & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ Leading to 6m C B m 7 E7 A m C B m7(b 5) E7 A m ﹈ : ﹈ : & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ & ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ BORROWING FROM MAJOR OR MINOR This 2 5 1 progression, either leading to the Tonic chord OR used as a Secondary Dominant combination, is ﹈ common :in popular music songwriting and extremely common in jazz writing and improvisation. You’ll note from the example on the previous page that the 2 chord may be either a 2m7 (borrowed from the ) or the 2m7( 5) (borrowed from the ). Either form of the 2 chord may be used interchangeably, as long as the chordf does not conflict with the melody. Simple triads of either chord may be used in pop music, but in jazz the 7th is virtually always included as part of the chord.

TO FIND THE 2 5 COMBINATION… ﹈ In order to find the 2 and the 5 combination: • To find the 2, start with the root note of the target chord, go upward 1 whole step (Form a minor, m7, diminished, or m7( 5) chord on this scale step) • To find the 5, start with the root note of fthe target chord, go downward a Perfect 4th (Form a major chord or a dominant 7 chord on this scale step)

EXAMPLES: To lead to an A chord with a 2m 5 combination you’d use the chords B m E A ﹈ ﹈ To lead to an Cfm chord with a 2m7( 5) 57 combination you’d use the chordsf fD:m7(f 5) G 7 C m s f ﹈ s f ﹈ s : s

FOR PRACTICE: Lead to a D chord with a 2° 5 combination ______D f ﹈ ﹈ : f Lead to a Bm chord with a 2m7 5 combination ______Bm ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to an A chord with a 2m 5 combination ______A ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to a D chord with a 2m7( 5) 57 combination ______D f ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to a Cm chord with a 2m 57 combination ______Cm ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to a D m chord with a 27 57 combination ______D m f ﹈ ﹈ : f Lead to a Gm chord with a 2m7 5 combination ______Gm ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to a F chord with a 2m 5 combination ______F ﹈ ﹈ : Lead to a C chord with a 2m7( 5) 57 combination ______C s f ﹈ ﹈ : s Lead to an Em chord with a 2m 57 combination ______Em ﹈ ﹈ :